Far East Loom Room

New Zealand

2011-02-05T22:21:00.000+08:00

New Zealand was a country on my travel "bucket list". After seeing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and knowing the filming was done in NZ my desire to visit NZ increased. When we moved to Singapore we made a list of where we wanted to go while living on the other side of the world, NZ came up high on the list. Now, if you look at the globe or an atlas you will realize NZ is not really close to anywhere, even Australia. Our direct flight from Singapore was a shocking 9 1/2 hour flight!

We left on December 20th and returned to Singapore on January 5th, allowing 17 days. Our travel agent convinced us that 17 days was really only enough to see one island, so we concentrated on the South island. Our trip began in Queenstown.

Day 1 - was a visit to the Walter Peak Farm across Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown. This was one of the things I wanted to do, visit a working sheep farm. Everyone enjoyed the demonstrations of the border collie herding the sheep and the sheep shearing.

Day 2 - 4 - We headed to Te Anau for a 3 day hike on the Hollyford Track. This was a hike through a rain forest in the Fiordlands. Eric and I had never hiked with a pack so I knew this trip would be a challenge, the first day was a 17 k hike, with pack and it rained ALL day. I'm sure the rain forest was lovely but my head was down most of the day watching where I stepped so I did not see much of it. Days 2 and 3 saw bits and moments with no rain but as Peter said "It is a rain forest and they measure annual rainfall here in meters!". Enough said. The highlight of this trip was the flight at the end over beautiful Milford Sound and the food.

Milford Sound from a small plane.

Day 5 - Christmas Day we boarded a ship to spend a day on Doubtful Sound, touring the Fiordlands. We overnighted on the ship. More rain dampened our spirits. The plus of all the rain meant instead of 6 waterfalls there were hundreds!

View of the Fiordlands, typical for us it was raining.

Day 6-9 - Sunshine, yea! We headed out of the Fiordlands, picked up a car in Queenstown and headed to Lake Wanaka. Wanaka is a lovely little town on the lake, we stayed in our favorite place of the trip. BUT on our 2nd morning we woke to more rain! We managed to find ways to entertain ourselves indoors- movies, winery visits, a visit to Puzzling World.

Day 10 - We headed up the West coast to see Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier. Our hike on Fox Glacier was canceled due to avalanches caused by - the rain! The scenery along the west coast was gorgeous and the drive incredible and we had sunshine from this point on. They don't have straight roads in NZ, the roads are super winding.

Day 11 - We headed up farther north along the West coast to Hokitika. Hokitika is a neat little town, full of good food and lots of stores that sell Green Stone (NZ Jade). Our lodging had the most incredible view over the Hokitika valley. While in Hokitika we visited the National Kiwi Centre, seeing a Kiwi in the wild is nearly impossible. They are nocturnal and endangered and a very odd looking bird! While wandering around the town we found a sock museum, full of many old sock knitting machines. The lady who owns the shop is the only person who still makes sock knitting machines and she hosts sock knitting machine conferences every summer in the US, who knew?

West Coat near Cape Foulwind.

Pancake Rocks

Day 12-14 - We drove to Nelson, stopping at Punakaki to see the world renowned Pancake Rocks and went to Cape Foulwind for lunch. Nelson is on the Northern end of the South Island and is home to many wineries and most of the fruit production on the south island (think Gala apples). There are 5 National Parks in the area, we kayaked in Abel Tasman and did a one day tour of the Golden Bay area. We stayed at a winery about 20 minutes west of Nelson so we did not get to the town till our last day. We really liked Nelson, lots of neat shops. It was a Sunday so the local weaving shop was closed, bummer.

Day 15-16 - As we left Nelson and headed to the East coast of the island the scenery began to change dramatically. It was still spectacular but the mountains were more rounded and there were fewer trees less vegetation overall. We headed to Kaikoura, the bay off of Kaikoura is home to thousands of dusky dolphins and sperm whales year round, due to an abundance of nutrients in the deep underwater caverns and few predators for the dolphins. We did a dolphin encounter, Peter and Katy donned wet suits and actually swam with the dolphins and Eric and I happily watched from the boat and took pictures. We went whale watching in the afternoon, after seeing hundreds of dolphins a couple lazy sperm whale coming up for a breath then going back underwater was not very exciting! The dolphin encounter was by far the highlight of the trip for all 4 of us!

Day 17 - Our last day in NZ and we are all pretty well pooped. We headed to Christchurch, we stayed at a hotel across the street from Christchurch Cathedral. We walked around the downtown area wandering in and out of shops and stopped to listen to street musicians, a low key end to the trip. We did see some buildings closed due to the earthquake there in the fall of 2010.

So, this was not a weaving or textile trip but I could not resist sharing the trip on the blog. The biggest surprise for us was the lack of mammals in NZ. We learned a lot on the Hollyford hike about the vegetation and lack of mamals and more on our Golden Bay tour. Basically the only indigneous mammal in NZ is a bat! Because of the lack of mammals there were no predators for the birds thus the evolution of the odd flightless birds found in NZ. Due to the introduction of mammals by man NZ has had some problems, everytime they introduce an animal it quickly overpopulates due to the lack of natural predators. My reason for explaining this is to share about their current problem, the Australian possum. Now, this possum does not look like the US possum, it has fur. The possum eats one ton of vegetation each night, I swear this is what we were told numerous times. So, now they catch and kill the possums then pluck their fur. The fur is then mixed with merino wool and sometimes silk for an incredibly soft, lightweight fiber. I never saw yarn for sale just the finished items.

Lots and lots of sheep but not millions....

Sheep, of course we saw lots and lots of sheep, but not as many as I expected. The numbers we were told is there are 1 million people on the South Island and over 30 million sheep. The wool industry is down so many of the sheep are being used for their meat. One thing we saw a lot of was really lovely fine gauge woolens, really, really lovely things. Both Peter and I wanted something but just could not bring ourselves to buy something we could not wear any time soon! Okay so we both have a pair of socks, his all merino and mine a blend of wool and possum!

We had a wonderful trip, New Zealand has incredible natural beauty and is an intersting place to visit. Oh, did I mention the food was yummy!

Now to get my looms threaded and get back to weaving!

Bali

2010-12-10T17:03:00.000+08:00

Rene and Tracy in Bali

Bali is probably the best known of the 17,500 islands in the Indonesian archipelago to Westerners. Bali is known for its beautiful beaches, wonderful climate, friendly people AND to fiber people for its lovely textiles. Rene Derewetzky (Tall Pines guild member) has been living in Jakarta for the last 3 ½ years, during that time she has accumulated both a lovely collection and knowledge of Indonesian textiles. Unfortunately for me Rene and her family are being repatriated back to Houston in December. As a last hurrah Rene offered to go with me to Bali and take me around to see Balinese textiles. I jumped at the offer and met Rene in late October in Bali. It was lovely to go on a trip where you just show up and everything is arranged.

From the airport we went straight to a nearby shop in Denpassar that had Balinese batik yardage in cotton and rayon for $2.00 a meter! Balinese batik is very tropical, bright colors, large motifs, not nearly as intricate as other Indonesian batiks, but fun stuff! Upstairs they had a nice collection of older Javanese textiles, mostly large pieces (Hinggi) that were warp ikat and supplementary weft. It was a great way to start the trip.

Wall of brightly colored cotton batik

Our next stop was Sanur, a town that was much quieter, less kitchy touristy shops, more for the middle-aged tourist. We stopped at a shop called Nogo. Nogo specializes in weft ikat fine cotton clothing, be still my heart! You can buy off the rack or custom order pieces. I got a dress, top and skirt custom made for $150 (out of weft ikat!). We picked my items up 3 days later and they fit perfectly!

Our first night we stayed in Kuta and enjoyed a lovely fresh fish dinner on the beach. Kuta is where tourism in Bali got started, there is a lot of traffic, lots of shops with touristy stuff for sale, it is where the younger tourists looking for night life stay.

The next morning we headed toward Ubud. Ubud is a town where a lot of artisans have settled, it too has a large tourism industry but it still maintains a more low keyed feeling, like I expect Bali was years ago. Our first stop in Ubud was at Threads of Life Indonesian Textile Center. WOW, what a neat place. From their brochure: “Threads of Life commissions textile weavers, basket makers and other traditional artists across Indonesia to recover the skills of their ancestors, working to an exquisite standard usually only seen in museums. Since 1998 we have sponsored the weaving of traditional, handmade, natural-dyed textiles, baskets and crafts that often take years to complete. We work directly with the artists, helping them establish cooperatives that build their financial security.” The shop is small but it is packed with beautiful work for sale and displays demonstrating the different techniques used to create the textiles. When you buy a piece you receive a photo of the artisan who made the piece and a DVD with a PowerPoint slide show of that area’s people and their work. It was wonderful to see how much Threads of Life is doing to educate people about the wonderful textiles of Indonesia.

Threads of Life, display of tied warps for ikat. Notice the naturally dyed
skeins hanging in the background.

On day 3 we headed out to visit a couple of villages to see weavers in action. Driving east out of Ubud we saw the beautiful countryside with lovely terraced rice fields. Our first stop was in the village of Tenganan where the famous double-ikat cloth called geringsing is produced. Each step of the process is done by a different person; spinning the yarn, winding the warp/weft, tying the resist ties and weaving the cloth. It is a very time consuming process, the finished fabric is used for rituals and only worn and produced by the people of Tenganan. While there a tour guide came through with 2 Singaporean ladies who work for the Singapore Heritage Conservation Centre, turns out the guide (Lolet) is one of the owners of Threads of Life and gives tours (I got his card) throughout Bali and Indonesia.

Selection of finished double-ikat (geringsing). I purchased one of the smaller pieces. The colors are traditional and are all naturally dyed.

Winding the weft for double-ikat

Our next stop was the mountain village of Seraya. The ladies at Threads of Life suggested we go there when I asked about the black and white checked fabric I saw on the statues all over Bali. Seraya is the only place that still produces this fabric as it was originally made; handspun cotton, hand-dyed with indigo and over-dyed with brown to get black, then handwoven. The fabric now used on the statues is a printed check and the handwoven fabric is worn by the men for ceremonies. We went to the “Natural Dyers’ & Weavers’ Cooperative of Seraya Traditional Textile Artisan”. We were greeted by Wayan Karya head of the cooperative. Wayan was a delightful guide, he showed us the dye plants, demonstrated how they dyes work, showed us where they grow their cotton, his mother demonstrated spinning the cotton and then we saw a weaving demonstration. There were a group of ladies working in the cotton field, they grinned and giggled when they saw us. Turns out they don’t get a lot of Western visitors and they were amazed by our whiteness! As we climbed the mountain on narrow dirt roads I questioned whether we should have made this trip, in the end it was the highlight of my trip to Bali. AND I added a couple of pieces from the Cooperative to my ever growing collection!

Wayan demonstrating how the root of the Mengkudo reacts with the mordant (macadamia nut) to give a nice red dye. Other colors they dye are Indigo/blue, Tumeric/yellow and then a leaf which gives then brown which they use to over-dye their indigo dyed yarn to get the lovely black they use in their checked pieces.

Indigo pots, aren't they lovely. Notice skeined yarn hanging from the rafters.

Wayan's mother demonstrating spinning their homegrown cotton.
Interesting wheel.

On returning to Ubud we finished up our trip with one more visit to Threads of Life, thanking them for their excellent recommendations on places to visit and purchasing a few more pieces for our collections. Next time I’ll add the village where they produce Songket (supplementary weft with metallic thread) to my itinerary!

Tracy and Wayan modeling the different textiles his cooperative produces. The black and white check is the only fabric they make using their handspun cotton. All of the cloth is dyed using their own natural dye plants. Pretty amazing!

Quick trip to KL

2010-11-09T21:56:00.000+08:00

Malaysia National Textile Museum

I've been meaning to blog about my trip to Bali but haven't quite found the time, there is so much to share. Meanwhile we made a quick trip to Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Titan the company my husband, Peter works for had a closing ceremony this morning. In July an agreement was signed for Honam (Korean conglomerate) to acquire Titan. It's taken 4 months to get all the details worked out but today was the big day. Peter asked me to accompany him so we flew up yesterday afternoon. Now you know there has to be a textile link or I wouldn't be mentioning this trip here. Well.... as we are driving to the hotel yesterday afternoon Peter points out a sign - National Textile Museum. No kidding he just looks out the window and sees a small sign. He won lots and lots of bonus points when he asked if I wanted to go. This trip was supposed to be all about him and business I truly was not looking for a chance to see textiles.

So, we headed to the hotel, checked in and then rushed over to the museum not knowing when it closed for the day. The building itself was an interesting old building, used for the railway intially. There were 4 rooms, 3 of textiles one of mostly jewlery.

Malaysia is an interesting country with a wide diversity of people. Malaysia has a large population of Chinese Malaysians and Indians, these two groups have influenced their textiles. The Malaysia National Textile Museum had done a good job of showing not just traditional Malaysian textiles but also those textiles influenced by both the Chinese and the Indians.

Traditional Malay costume, notice the interesting
fabric wrapped headpiece the man is wearing.

Malaysia is predominantly muslim, you see many women wearing headscarfs. The difference between Malaysian and Middle Eastern muslims (I'm only talking textiles here) is that the Malays are all about color, pattern and lovely fabrics. I enjoy people watching, to see the beautiful outfits the ladies wear. Many of the fabrics are very large prints and very colorful. Many wear a loose tunic over a long skirt or loose pants. I have also seen some stunning suits that are very fitted but the skirt is full length. Many of the outfits are made of fabrics I would consider only for evening wear.

Example of display, mannequins looked Malaysian. This was batik using a block or chop.

The first room downstairs showed the different types of textiles found in Malaysia - batik, warp ikat, weft ikat, songket (supplementary weft patterned with metallic thread), printed and gilded (Indian influence), embrodiered and beaded (Chinese Influence) and bark fabric. There were some nice examples of textiles, mannequins wearing the traditional costumes and large historical photos showing the same style of textile worn by real people. The second room downstairs went through each process with displays showing mannequins doing the process, step by step diagrams and touch screen multi media displays of the actual process. Something unique I've never seen, at each display there was a case that showed everything used in the process; the dyes in each dyeing process, everything to make the beaded shoes etc....

Kebaya, traditional blouse worn in SE Asia with traditional embroidery.

close up of embroidery

Upstairs there was a room with more lovely examples with lengthy text about how the textile was made, where it was made, who wore the textile, interesting historical information etc... The last room was where we spent the least time - cases of jewelry and more mannequins wearing full costumes, including jewelry.

costume of bark cloth (top)

All in all it was a lovely musuem, very educational. We were the only people there! Our only complaint was the lighting could be better, Peter found some of the signs were hard to read because of the lighting (he of course filled out a suggestion card). When we met Peter's boss and wife (Warren and Liz) for drinks we told them where we had been. Liz became very animated and explained the Malaysia National Textile Museum has not offcially opened. It is brand new and has been having it's "soft opening" for the last 4 months. Liz has already been 3 times and was thrilled to hear we'd found it. I just looked it up on the web and found out that once it opens there will be an admission fee of 1 ringgit (about 32 cents)! Weren't we lucky to happen upon this new gem in KL!

More pictures:

Warp beam of songket floor loom. Notice the warp beam is suspended
from the top of the loom's frame. That piece is then tied to a rod that is tied to the back of the loom's frame. An interesting set up.

Floor loom used for weaving songket. Notice the board style warp beam, when you advance your warp it is by this full amount, about 8". The fabric hanging in the back of the photo is songket. Songket was primarily worn by royalty and dignataries, I'm guessing due to cost. Until the 1950's it was worn as a rectangle, sarong style usually. In the 50's they began to cut and sew it into fitted garments. Our hotel staff wore a variety of garments made from allover songket and some with bands.

Peranakan beaded shoes. Embroidery hoop shows how the beaded portion is made. These handmade shoes are still custom made for about $1,000 ringgit, about $300 USD. Peranken refer to the descendants of Chinese immigrants to Malaysia, Indonesia and Singpore.

The warp ikat display. This woven on a backstrap loom. At
the far right in the photo you can see that the loom is attached
to a wooden frame.

Peru

2010-09-29T21:20:00.000+08:00

Trekking around Montana Ausungate.

Okay, so you may be wondering why I visited Peru if we are living in SE Asia, well I did'nt! My 16 year old adventurous daughter, Katy went on a 6 week trekking trip to Peru. She took bunches of pictures and picked up a few textiles while there. I thought I would share a few of her pics and a little bit about her trip.

Llama in Machu Picchu

When Katy decided she wanted to go on a trip with Where There Be Dragons she choose Peru for a couple of reasons, mainly she figured if she told us she wanted to increase her Spanish fluency (academic reason) we would be more likely to say yes. The choices in Latin America were Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. What she most wanted to do was trek and Peru had the most trekking of any of the Latin American trips. I remember she specifically said she did not want to go to Guatemala because they mentioned weaving in the description and she already knew about that - ha! I did not tell her at that time that if she went to Peru she would most definitely see a lot of weaving and handwoven things!

Boys in traditional dress.

Girls in traditional dress.

Katy in traditional dress, in Parque de la Papa.

One of the neat things about Katy's trip was they had stayed in the homes of local people, over the course of the trip they stayed in 3 different homes in different parts of Peru. This was a great way to really learn about the indigenous people of Peru. On Katy's first home stay in Parque de la Papa her "mother" made her wear traditional clothing the entire time (5 days). Guess what - it was handwoven! When Katy told me this I think even she saw the humor in the situation .

Katy learning how to weave on a back strap loom, in Nacionq'uieros.

The kids were also exposed to back strap weaving and given the opportunity to weave. There were many opportunities to buy handspun, hand-knitted hats (orange with alpaca/ llama) and traditional back strap woven pieces. Katy picked out two very nice pieces to bring home to her loving madre!

The orange hat is handspun and handknit, but not colorfast. The hat on the right is more traditional patterning.

Katy in cute orange hat.

An assortment of textiles, the balls are for the dog, a back strap belt (center top) alpaca twill scarf that got lots of wear and a "cell phone case" that Katy wove.

Traditional back strap woven textiles in wool.

Katy had a great trip and learned that there is indeed a lot of weaving in Peru!

Just in case it sounds like I'm not weaving... here is the yarn for my next towel warp!

We are traveling to Bangkok this weekend for a volleyball tournament and to Bali at the end of October. Hopefully I'll have some new textile stories to share.

Happy Weaving,

Tracy

Cambodia

2010-09-08T20:57:00.000+08:00

Angkor Wat

Well, I have to admit I'm pretty much a failure at timely blogging. I know it's been ages and I haven't written due to a lack of stuff to write about but more lack of time for blogging. I'm going to try and get caught up:

In June we traveled to Siem Reap, Cambodia. This was definitely my favorite trip so far. Siem Reap is where the temples from the Khmer reign are located. Angkor Wat is one of the 7 wonders of the world and Ta Prohm claims fame as the location where Lara Croft - Tomb Raider was filmed. I booked the trip as a package through an airline travel agent. When I got the itinerary it listed a craft workshop and silk farm, both of which sounded promising.

Ta Prohm, photo op from Tomb Raider

The main focus of our trip was to see the temples; this was not a textile trip. We had an excellent guide and driver both of whom spoke English well. The temples of Angkor were built from the 7^th – 12^th centuries. It is amazing to think of buildings of this size and architectural complexity being built that long ago and surviving today. The sheer size of the buildings and number of carvings is mind boggling.

We could not help but notice the extreme poverty in Cambodia. Everywhere we went there were small children begging and selling trinkets. The country is still recovering from the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970’s. We saw quite a few land mine victims, some of whom were recent victims. The main goal of organizations helping Cambodians is to teach them ways to help themselves. One local organizations motto is “Help up, not hand out”.

Half way through our second day of temple touring our guide said we were going to visit the Artisans d’Angkor workshop. The Artisans d’Angkor is an amazing workshop where people from villages around Cambodia are brought to learn a trade. Their options are silk weaving, silk painting, wood or stone carving, silver plating, and lacquer work. There are 15 workshops around Cambodia where after training in the main workshop in Siem Reap they can work. At the Siem Reap workshop you can watch all of the crafts being done except weaving. The Silk Farm is outside of town and houses the weaving and sewing workshops.

Artisans d'Angkor Show room

I was blown away by the quality of the work and the marketing effort by the Artisans d’Angkor. It was all very professionally done from the products produced, labeling, pricing and display. The showroom at both the Siem Reap workshop and the Silk Farm were beautiful. I wanted one of everything!

Feeding silk worms, cocoons in back

different stages in the silk process

Artisans d’Angkor produce all of their own silk, they grow the mulberry leaves, raise the silk worms, reel the silk, dye the yarn and weave it. They have done a good job of illustrating each step of the process for the layman. Peter was sure he had been set up when we arrived at the Silk Farm. He said it was the highlight of the trip for him, but he had a hard time believing that it was part of our “package”.

reeling silk

Natural Dye materials

Naturally dyed silk

winding bobbins

The silk weavers do several types of weaving; beginners work on full width all white warps (I saw several women mending broken threads), the white fabric is woven for the silk painting workshop. More advanced weavers work with colors, some solid, some stripes, all gorgeous. The most advanced weavers weave weft Ikat. I was amazed at the number of bobbins they were using at one time for weft but the end product had a perfect selvedge. How can that be?

Weft Ikat in process

Signs in English are often humorous

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Cambodia; the wonderful temples, delicious food, friendly people and beautiful cloth.

In the market the ornate "Songket" fabrics (supplementary weft with metallic thread) look gaudy. Once I saw the traditional dancers I got the need for the glitz.

Now off to do some weaving of my own.....

Tracy

Thailand Trip

2010-06-28T14:18:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since the last post. I know many people blog daily but I really feel like I should only post when I've got something worthy of sharing.... I actually wrote this on June 1st then saved to post till I added photos.

I have wanted to visit Thailand for most of my life, in fact I credit Thai silk with my love of textiles. My Dad was stationed in Thailand in the late 60's early 70's. I don't know the exact date, but I know at the time I was still playing with barbies and I was sewing their clothes so that puts me between 8-12 years of age. My Dad brought the girls back dolls from the countries he visited and I got a Thai dancer, she was so exotic! When he visited Thailand he brought all of the females in the family yardage, they were supposedly dress lengths (for little Thai women). I received a gaudy green cotton print and a beatuiful, irridescent piece of Thai silk. My barbies had an outift out of the green print :) I still have the piece of Thai silk, I've used small bits for things but not the whole piece. Even at a young age I treasured beautiful fabric.

Peter and I traveled to Phuket, Thailand on May 20th. The 21st was Peter's 50th birthday and our 27th wedding anniversary. Some Canadian friends were vacationing in Phuket and invited us to join them, it seemed like the perfect way to celebrate. Phuket is an island, off of penisular Thailand, the part shared with Malaysia. It is a vacation destination for Europeans, particularly Scandanavians and of course for those living in SE Asia. It is knowns for it's beautiful beaches and great diving. Many in the US had not heard of Phuket until the tsunami of 2004, when pictures of the tsunami's devastation were broadcast around the world.

I was surprised at how big the island is, we stayed at a Marriott resort on the northern end of the island on Mai Khao beach. Mai Khao beach is protected because it's where the green sea turtles come to lay their eggs. Apparently quite a large number of tourists come to watch the turtles!

Day One - (celebration day) we went on a sea cave tour. The tour started in the afternoon and as soon as the boat left the dock they fed us, just a light lunch but it was yummy. Thai food is one of my all time favorites so I was a happy camper! The scenery on the way was stupendous. One of the islands the locals refer to as "James Bond Island", it's where "Man With Golden Gun" was filmed. We stopped 5 times and got on small inflatable kayaks. There was one guide per kayak and two guests. The guides did all the work. The guides have to watch the tides to determine which caves are accessible on any given day. All of the caves we entered had such low entrances that we had to lay down in the boats to get in. I being the big weenie was rather proud that I did not squeal or embarrass myself in anyway! After 3 caves we were fed dinner, yummmy! We then had craft time and made offerings out of bannana leaves and flowers. In the last cave (after dark) we lit the offerings and put them in the water. This cave was inhabited by bats (again no squealing) and the water had luminescent plankton in it, very cool indeed!

Day Two we hired a cab for the day and went to Phuket town. We first went to see the Big Buddha (really, that's what it is called). Then we went and visited a Buddhist temple. The temple was beautiful but what intrigued me was the quantity of dogs on the property that apparently live there. There were several people filling bowls of food and water and several dogs were sleeping on benches. Interesting.

Our next stop was to find a textile shop I'd read about, Ban Boran. The guidebooks said they have the best selection of Thai textiles on Phuket island. It was a lovely little shop with a good selection of Thai textiles, scarves, shawls, ready made garments, ethnic costume and some lovely Laotian supplementary weft pieces. I did manage to pick up a few lovelies to add to my growing collection. We ended our day at the "Night Market", think of a flea market full of all sorts of interesting food and not so interesting other stuff. We went back to the hotel and had a lovely, yummy Thai dinner at one of the restaurants at our hotel.

Day Three we decided to bum around the resort. We put on swimsuits (we had not been to the beach yet!) and walked down to the beach to get a massage. They have small huts where you can get an hour long full body massage for about $12 US. After being totally relaxed we headed down to the beach. The currents are strong on Mai Khao so it's not the best beach for swimming. We stood on the beach and let the waves crash around our feet. During monsoon season it's supposed to be good for surfing. We did a little shopping at the local shopping center. There is a small Jim Thompson outlet there. I honestly could have had one of everything, really lovely high quality work. Back to the hotel to swim in the pool and more eating and then back to Singapore.

Visiting Phuket was a great way to celebrate Peter's birthday and our anniversary. The last picture is to demonstrate that Peter will try anything, once! He is eating grilled shrimp at the Night Market.

Tracy

Jakarta trip

2010-05-03T21:13:00.000+08:00

3 wheel taxi

So, last Sunday I made the trip to Jakarta. I had heard a lot about Jakarta and almost all of it came down to it's a very crowded city, 12 million people! Most of the stories were about how horrible traffic is and guess what the traffic truly is horrible. I'm convinced a few strategically placed traffic lights would do a world of good, I did not see a single light. Ex-pats don't drive in Jakarta they have drivers and with good reason! They also have guards and high walls around their homes, it is a little intimidating. As you can imagine with that many people there is a lot of poverty and so there is a lot of petty theft. So, they have guards. With all of the staff: driver, guards, gardener and housekeeper there is not a lot of privacy. I think that would take some getting used to. I certainly did not feel unsafe at any time, but I did have big round eyes watching everything. Some Jakarta pics:

Sewing machine cart

Family of 4, see little feet between Mom and kid

My goals in visiting Jakarta as 1) to visit Rene Derewetzky 2) Have Rene educate me on Indonesia and the textiles made there 3) In exchange for my education I was to help Rene get her naked loom dressed and help her determine why she has tension issues. All 3 goals were met, yea!

The Loom - The Derewetzkys moved to Jakarta over 2 1/2 years ago and her loom has been naked since they moved, gasp! She warps sectionally, which I have only done a few times. Rene had wound all of her spools ahead of time. She is one of those weavers who over thinks things and worries about every tiny little placement, she likes the threads to be like soldiers, Rene was convinced that her tension issues had something to do with user error. Her loom is a 20 year old AVL modular 4 shaft loom, it has a brake that is a friction brake on the back and nothing on the front, you can advance and it's supposed to tension itself with the back friction brake and a spring. Well, that did not work and I diagnosed this as a loom problem, not the user at all. Rene had purchased an optional traditional brake which was installed after I left and as of today the report is even tension, she is thrilled. I hope she has many more well tensioned warps :)

My textile education:

Day One- was a meeting of the Indonesian Heritage Society's textile study group. The meeting was at Rene's and they were culminating their studies with an indigo dye pot. They dyed scarves that they had stitched resists on. I enjoyed meeting the ladies and learning about their studies.

Day Two we went to the National Museum of Indonesia. They had wonderful large maps of Indonesia which show the islands, their geography and the diversity of the people living there. Some Indonesia facts - there are something like 300 + languages, the government has attempted to unify them with one language, Bahasa Indonesian. There are over 17,500 islands in the archipelago, 70% of the people are Muslim. It's no wonder the government has a difficult time governing the country! Our tour ended in the newly re-opened Textile room, yea! They had some lovely pieces on display with good educational information showing equipment used and describing the different techniques. As far as cloth Indonesian cloth most the techniques primarily used are batik (wax resist on already woven fabric, some hand drawn and some stamped), ikat (tied resist prior to weaving, they do warp ikat, weft ikat and double ikat) and pick up designs.

Day 3 was spent shopping, we went to 3 shops that sell a variety of textiles made in Indonesia. Of course I wanted to support these people so I purchased a good bit, but I wanted more! Lots of gifts!

Rene in Sumba shop with board where the warp is wound then resist tied for ikat.

The picture below is a close up of the textiles on the table. They are all from Sumba and are either warp ikat, songket or a combination. I purchased the piece in the foreground which is an all indigo hinggi, the center is warp ikat, it has songket bands and then along the top and bottom a smaller band that is made on a separate back strap loom with the fringe from the warp used as the weft on the small band, this attaches the large piece to the small piece. Very cool. These pieces are used for a variety of purposes including burial so they are quite large.

Day 4 was spent at Rene's house. We finished dressing the loom and rewarded ourselves with a show and tell of Rene's lovely collection. The photo below is some of Rene's favorite batiks.

Rene's plan to educate me was perfect. I now know roughly the different types of textiles from some of the islands. I can now decide from this knowledge where I most want to go to see the actual cloth being produced. Now where shall I go? I'm thinking Bali (beautiful batiks, weft ikat and double ikat) and Sumba (hinggis with warp ikat or combined with songket pick up).

Now back to the loom!

Songket from Sumba on a back strap loom. This was being demonstrated at the shop where I purchased my hinggi.

OMG - Textile Enthusiasts are Here!!

2010-04-16T15:56:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was a very good day for making connections. At 1:00 I went to my 4th AWA book club meeting. I have enjoyed all of the discussions so I was looking forward to a good meeting. The meetings are held in a members home, this one was centrally located in a high rise condo. There are 3 units per floor but each has its own elevator, so when the door opens to the elevator you are looking at the entry way to the condo you are going to. When the doors opened I was greeted by beautiful Asian textiles hanging outside the door! I swear my heart started beating faster! The meeting was at the home of Connie who is an art history professor at Penn State and guess what she specializes in, Asian textiles! She is currently teaching an on-line class while they are stationed in Singapore. Her home is chock full of books and textiles, imagine textile on every surface. Literally there were textiles hanging, laying, sitting everywhere. Of course I did not have my camera.... bummer. I did talk to Connie about her collection and she is a fascinating woman. She is a docent at the ACM (Asian Civilization Museum), I am going to do a tour with Connie at the ACM, she leads the tour in one of the costumes in her collection.

We had a huge storm in the afternoon, all week we have had really BIG storms. Usually it rains but these have been torrential downpours accompanied by load bursts of thunder, really loud thunder. Jack (dog) has spent most of the week hiding in the bathroom or huddled by my legs. I had signed up for a lecture in the evening with the TE/Textile Enthusiasts. The TE are a study group of the FOM (Friends of the Museums). The FOM supports the major museums here in Singapore, training docents and educating its members. They have weekly lectures, local museum and city tours and tours of other countries. All of their activities focus on Asian studies. I joined FOM specifically to be part of the TE. Anyway, I considered aborting my plan to go to the meeting due to the storm, getting a taxi is easy unless it is raining. I am so glad I decided to make the effort and go....

I arrived about 5 minutes late, fortunately I was not alone in my tardiness. TE enthusiasts usually meet at the ACM but they were booked for the evening. This was a special lecture with Dr. Linda McIntosh. The meeting was held in another high rise condo and once again when the elevator doors opened I was greeted by more than just a door, interesting Asian artwork greeted me. The hostess for the evening was Digna, a tiny Filipino woman who along with her Australian husband collect Asian artwork. Honestly, I wondered if I was in a home or museum. I had hoped Dr. McIntosh might have some textiles with her so I did bring my camera this time. The lecture was all by powerpoint so no real textiles to see and touch from the lecture. I got permission from Digna to take pictures of her home to post on my blog. She was flattered by my enthusiasm for her home. Apparently many of her Filipino friends are a little freaked out by the statues. Apparently they don't like non-Christian religious icons.

The pictures in the blog are all from Digna's home, the work is lite by spotlights which is effective in her home but made it hard to photograph. I felt a little awkward taking pictures in someone's home, like some crazy American tourist! One of the curators for the ACM was there, he explained that 80% of the work in their home is from Burma/ Myanmar, the rest is from surrounding countries - primarily Laos and Thailand. The first photo is a large Burmese textile, showing the full piece and a close up. The last photo is a gift that was give to Dr. McIntosh for doing the lecture for the TE. It is a woven piece that is warp Ikat made from abaca (similiar to the banana plant) from the Philippines.

A little about the speaker and the lecture; Dr. Linda McIntosh has a Masters in Thai Textile Studies and a Doctorate in Laotian Textile Studies. She lives in Bangkok and curates shows for the Jim Thompson House. She has written a book on Laotian Textiles which is due out in 2011, the lecture was based on her doctorate study and her book. Her mother is Laotian and a weaver, thus Linda's interest in textiles. She focused on Tai (not Thai) ceremonial pieces from mainland SE Asia. The pieces shown were antiques and from a large law firms collection in Bangkok. She went over the technical aspects of how they were made and she knew what she was talking about. The pieces were all supplementary weft, with discontinuous weft, so there were many color changes. They were sett at 48 epi with a fine silk warp and a heavier cotton weft. She discussed the motifs used and their significance to the ceremonies. The weaver makes the piece without a specific ceremony in mind and the Shaman determines what it is used for. Although not as prevelant today these pieces are still in use and weavers making them. Now some are made specifically for commercial use (to sell to tourists), Linda said they are not as intricate as the pieces a weaver would make for their own families use. One intricate piece can take up to one year! Wish I had a picture to show you.

It was a good day, I found out there are truly Textile Enthusiasts in Singapore. I was assured that there will be many lovely textiles for me to see and these people can help me learn more and teach me where to find them. I had a hard time sleeping with all the images in my mind from the day. Oh, and I must have had a big S (for sucker) on my forehead. The TE asked me to be on their planning committe.

Happy Weaving,
Tracy

Sound Challenges

2010-04-14T23:20:00.000+08:00

I miss public radio in Houston! I have always liked to have background noise when I am working. The last few years I've primarily listened to KUHF and KPFT. The last year or so I had an HD radio and listened almost exclusively to KUHF HD 2. Lots of radio talk shows, as long as I wasn't working on something difficult I could listen to talk radio. Now that my studio is set up I'm ready to get to work, but I have nothing to listen to... I tried bringing my laptop up but the signal was weak and the speakers even weaker. Peter suggested I get a wireless adaptor for the computer that runs the Megado. So I made a trip to the mall - 10 minute walk to train, 10 minute train ride, ride the escalator 5 floors, repeat to get home. Stores don't open till 11 am I am there at 10 am - back home. Make a 2nd trip, got a wireless adaptor and speakers, also picked up an Ipod Nano to replace my Ipod that went missing in our shipment. Damn those concrete walls I could not get a signal in that room (modem on 2nd floor, looms on 3rd floor). Yea, I have the Ipod and it is fun to listen to but the headphone wires catch on things, I can't hear the doorbell, the kids etc. So I think a docking station would be good. Back to the mall, found a nice little docking station with a clock :) Back home plug in docking station, hear loud pop. Wait till Peter gets home and ask nicely for him to take me back to the mall. Staff at store very nice gave me new plug, go back home. Bet you guessed the loud pop happens again. Sigh.... Meanwhile Peter finds out he has to fly back to Houston in 2 days!! I abandon my efforts to get some sound in to the loom room because I have to finish weaving the Color and Weave samples and tax information so Peter can hand deliver both. There is a TV with cable in the room with the baby wolf so I can listen to something while weaving on the baby wolf. Peter left at 2 am Friday morning so I was get back to putting a warp on the Megado in a quiet room. Friday evening we went in search of Mexican food (in Asia) with my Texas neighbors. John is an IT guy and I mentioned my dilemma. He offered to get me set up with wireless internet on the 3rd floor. I tried not to get over excited and let him see my desperation. Saturday I decided I could download episdoes/podcasts of some of my favorite NPR shows on to the Nano as a temporary talk radio fix. I was able to get 8 episodes of Wait, Wait don't tell me downloaded before the hard drive on my computer was full! Sunday John arrived with 3 gizmos (home plug device) and in 30 minutes he had me all set. You can plug one of these devices in where the modem is connected and another in the room where the computer is and the internet connection passes through the wires, it is a miracle! Sunday the kids and I went back to the mall and I took back the docking station, this time they gave me a new unit and it works! By Sunday evening I had a working docking station and an internet connection. Now I have choices of what I can listen to!

Final cost = wireless adaptor, speakers, Ipod Nano, docking station, 3 homeplug devices, 6 trips to the mall, loads of time and frustration

So, the Color and Weave Samples are done (see last post for information). The theme of this exchange is "Design Challenge" and elements were assigned. My elements are: Black and White only, Shadow Weave and Use Metallic. The black metallic I used added nothing to the final fabric. I did not bring a large stash to Singapore so I did not have the ability to subsitute, so I stayed the course and finished with what I had. I decided I just don't like a whole lot of Color and Weave pattern without something to break it up. To jarring to the eyes, especially in all black and white.

Here is the finished lenth before cutting, the pattern really looks like diamonds from this angle.

On the end of the warp I used some red, I got tired of Black and White! In this close up you can see the square within a square and rectangle within a rectangle pattern better.

I have dressed the megado with a beautiful silk warp. I'll post some pictures once I get farther along. The first picture is of the warp skeins. I ordered some more silk for the weft, Peter will bring that back with him this weekend.

Happy Weaving, now what shall I listen to?

Tracy

Ready, Sett, Weave....

2010-03-28T21:44:00.000+08:00

Finally, I am set up and ready to weave. Putting together the new baby wolf took longer than I anticipated. Once I got a warp on the BW and was weaving I felt like I could attack the weaving "studio". I finished setting up the Megado (computerized loom) yesterday afternoon and worked on the piles of "stuff". The Megado broken down was an intimidating pile of parts. It was easy to procrastinate and find other things to do first. When I turned the computer on I was happy to see that everything works! I was pleased when I went to bed last night that the room is now useable, although I've still got a few stacks to work through. Today Peter hung my warping board so I'm truly ready to get to work. Yea!

I am a member of the Cross Country Weavers, an annual swatch exchange group. This year's theme is Ann Sutton's design card game, each person was given 3 cards with information pertaining to the assignment. All 3 cards have to be used to come up with a finished cloth. My cards were: use black and white only, use Shadow weave and use metallic yarns. The first two go together perfectly but using metallic doesn't. I did manage to find a nice black metallic to use in the weft. The warp is 8/2 Egyptian cotton; black and white. The pattern is from Marion Powell's 1000+ Shadow Weave designs, design #80309. I'm not sure that the metallic adds anything to the finished fabric, just satisfies the "card" in the design game. When the fabric is finished and washed I'll make my final judgement.

The piece feels a little like a 60's op art, if you look at it from different directions the design changes. In 30 years of weaving I have never woven Shadow weave. I was glad for the push to try Shadow weave. I had a little trouble at first, I lost my place and had trouble finding it. Watching American Idol while weaving is a little distracting. The floors are wood and I felt like I was doing a complicated dance step with the loom! Now I've got a rug under the loom and a system to keep track of where I am.

I am so glad to be weaving again, it's been far too long. Happy Weaving!

Tracy

Oh Happy Day!

2010-03-23T14:10:00.005+08:00

As I am typing the moving company's handyman is here hanging pictures and mirrors, he's done with the first floor and now working on the 2nd floor. It is amazing how much more like it home it feels with our familiar pieces on the wall :)

Last week was Eric's spring break and this week is Katy's. Katy also had Friday off and Eric doesn't have class on Mondays so we had a 4 day overlap. We left Friday morning for Rawa Safaris, a small private island off the east coast of Malaysia. The island is in the South China Sea. It's about a 3 hour drive from our house to Mersing, the town where we picked up the boat. A little Malaysian information; the state just over the causeway from Singapore is Johor. Peter works in Johor 4 out of 5 days. There are 13 states and each state has a sultan, they rotate who gets to be King. Rawa Safaris is owned by the Sultan of Johor, he gave each son half of the island. Each son built a resort, side by side. One looks like some buildings were thrown up (30 years ago) and then they never did anything else. The other resort (the one we went to) has ongoing construction projects, they have continually worked to improve the resort. It is a lovely island, nothing fancy but a nice getaway from the city and not too commercial.

Back to the beginning of the trip. This was the kids first time in Malaysia, their first encounter with Malaysian bathrooms. Malays don't use toilet paper, they have a hose and somehow they work out their hygiene with water. Honestly, I don't want to think too much about it. Sometimes they spray water in the stall, on the floor or toilet. Public bathrooms aren't my favorite spot anyway but the addition of water to the mix makes my skin crawl. Add to that "Eastern" style toilets; imagine a toilet seat sitting on the floor, your feet go on either side, now add to that water. Well, this was a bad way for the kids to start their time in Malaysia, neither was comfortable in the public bathrooms. One bathroom you paid .30 Ringgit (about 10 cents) to use the toilet and then you got a little wad of paper handed to you. Eeew, somebody touching my tp. Add on top of this a 2 1/2 hour delay waiting for the ferry and by the time we got to Rawa all our nerves were frayed!

Once we got to Rawa we all relaxed, they had nice facilities :) We woke to steady rain Saturday morning, it finally let up after lunch but it was still quite gray. The kids both were hoping to lounge in the sun and there wasn't any. Peter and Katy went ahead and did a little snorkeling but the visibility was poor. We all kayaked around the island but the water was so choppy we were afraid to venture too far. Sunday morning we awoke to a lovely day. We all snorkeled. Now I am a big water weenie, I never learned how to swim well. I never ever put my face in the water. Peter and Katy have both gotten PADI certified for scuba diving and I have to admit I'm envious of what they are going to see. However, not enough to scuba dive. So, I decided that I would learn how to snorkel by golly so I could see some of the aquatic life. Eric for all his swimming doesn't do open water swimming. My fear is drowning and his is being attacked by fish, seriously.

So, we all snorkeled Saturday. Guess what I did not drown and Eric was not attacked by anything! Basically you swam a few yards from shore, stuck your face in the water and there right in front of you was a wonderful aquatic world. Coral - rock shaped, spiky, huge flat plate pieces; sea urchins - black with interesting neon spots (eyes?); Sea Anemone; Sea cucumbers - weird blobs on the ocean floor; Clams - iridescent turquoise growing in the coral; Fish - oh my gosh the color and variety - parrot, clown, wrasse, sergeant, puffer, and many many more.... So, now I'm hooked and planning the next trip where we can snorkel!

Now, that I'm done typing the handyman has finished hanging and I am a happy camper. No more pictures leaning against walls, no more huge expanses of white walls mocking me with their barreness. There is color in my life once again :)

Happy Day and happier yet - my loom is warped and tomorrow I will weave! More on that later.

Tracy

50's not so bad!

2010-03-10T20:17:00.012+08:00

So I was pretty bummed when I realized I was turning 50 with no old friends nearby. No girlfriends to take me to lunch and make me feel special :( I really wanted to have a big bang up party and invite everyone Peter and I ever knew to celebrate both our 50th birthdays! 30 and 40 did not seem like a big deal BUT 50 - good grief that's half a century and I still FEEL good! Peter came through with flying colors - he and the kids at my request took me to the National Orchid Garden Saturday evening. Peter really wanted to go and take pictures of the orchids - oh my gosh they had an incredible variety and they were all beautiful. We went to our favorite Indian restaurant and had yummy butter chicken.

On the morning of the 7th (the big 50) Peter and I caught a ferry to Bintan, Indonesia. On the ferry I got to open my present - a very cool new point and shoot camera. We arrived well before check in time so we took the Mangrove tour. Very cool, it was low tide so we saw lots of neat roots. As far as animal life we saw Monitor lizards, a Mangrove snake, a colorful Kingfisher and a monkey peeped out at us. Next I was treated to a 2 hour and 15 minute spa treatment, we did it as a couple so Peter got treated special, too. Sea Salt scrub, full body massage and foot reflexology - heavenly! After that we went to the resort and spent the rest of our time eating and relaxing by the pool or on the beach.

After 2 weeks of unpacking, organizing and setting up the house it was a wonderful treat to be able to relax. We both really enjoyed our time at Bintan. It is pretty amazing to live somewhere where you can travel 45 minutes and be at a tropical island paradise!

Now a little fiber talk. I found out yesterday that Rene Derewetzky (Tall Pines guild member) is living in Jakarta. Jakarta is an hour and 15 minutes plane ride from Singapore. One of my goals while living in this region is to learn more about the indigenous textiles. I've seen Laotian and Cambodian silks and the beautiful batiks and ikats of Indonesia. But I want to see them being made and learn more about the process. After talking with Rene this afternoon we have worked out a deal. She has spent 2 1/2 years in Jakarta and has seen many different local dyers and weavers in action. She knows where to go!!!! If I will go to Jakarta and help warp her loom she will take me around Jakarta and give me an Indonesian textile primer. Then she will tell me where I can go to see the actual weaver and dyers!! I am so excited! That means in the future I will have something exciting to share ....

Off to work on organizing the files, yuk!

Tracy

At long last our ship arrived!

2010-03-03T07:58:00.004+08:00

So, it's been a whole week since the movers came and unloaded our container. I actually took pictures that day to post. Ha! I thought I'd be blogging about the move right away....

I got a call Friday of the week prior that our ship was due to dock Sunday the 22nd and our shipment would be delivered on Wednesday the 24th at 9am. I waited till I got confirmation Monday that the ship did in fact arrive to schedule our leased furniture to be picked up and to cancel the two lectures I was scheduled to attend on Wednesday. Of course that's how it works - I wanted our stuff here now - but I really wanted to attend the lecture on Thai Textiles. The first textile thing I'd found in Singapore and I missed it! Such is life...

8:45 am Wednesday I am strolling down on our street with Jack, returning from our walk and I hear a noise behind me. Yes, it is a truck with our container sitting on top!! Jack and I rush home to get ready and to get Eric up to help. Odd, the truck didn't come and didn't come. I walk out and look up the street and there it still is. Now I need to explain that our street is a dead end (kinda like a long, curved at the top cul de sac) but it is narrow. Imagine 2 narrow lanes with cars parked on both sides and we live almost at the end. The biggest downside to our location is the narrowness of the street. So, the truck could not make it past the curve at the top of the street! An hour and half later the movers pull up in a small truck, they had parked the large truck with the container on it on another street and brought in a small truck and off loaded bit by bit on to the smaller truck. Whatever works is okay by me at this point, just give me my stuff.

The moving crew was entirely Malay, it was fun listening to them speak in Bahasa Melayu. Being Malay they were also Muslim and they don't mix with dogs. This meant Jack had to be locked up all day, which he of course did not like! The movers were hard working and did not eat the whole time they were here. They took smoke and water breaks. Once the entire truck was unloaded they went room by room setting up beds, and unpacking every box. I really did not want every box unpacked. I was able to convince them to leave a few that I knew would be disastrous to open. But basically I had piles of stuff laying around to find a place for.

Now: 6 packing days later. I am tired but it feels much more like home here. The house is big enough if you look strictly at the size of the rooms. It is sorely undersized when it comes to storage. You Americans imagine having 1 closet in your whole house! All of the bedrooms have a wardrobe - 6' per room of storage. The master bedroom has 2 - 6' wardrobes, each with a 3' hanging rod. I calculated that Peter and I each had about 12' of hanging in our closet in Katy. I have worked my way from the bottom floor up - the kitchen/dining room had to be done first and that took a full day. Our kitchen is basically the size of an efficiency kitchen, again very little storage. We have a 5th bedroom off the kitchen (called a mother-in-law bedroom), this has become a combination of storage, sewing and Jack's room. Eric is the family nester. His room is fully done - he's even got his posters hung. I am currently working on the 3rd floor, which consists of Eric's room, an open room with one loom (baby wolf) and a bedroom with all my weaving stuff and the Megado. Today I hope to work on the weaving stuff. So, progress is being made!

Once we have figured out where we want pictures on the wall the moving company will send someone over to hang things for us. Sounds odd? Well, the walls are concrete so you can't just hammer a nail in.

Imagine your house with no pantry, few kitchen cabinets, one under the stair closet (Christmas stuff, luggage fits), no medicine cabinets, no plugs in the bathroom, no built in shelves, no linen closet, one bath with a cabinet. Now take all that stuff out of those spots in your house (in your mind) and visualize the piles of "stuff" in your house. That's what I'm working with here :) And that doesn't even touch on the weaving stuff!

Two pictures - the Megado (computerized loom) and many of it's parts - a daunting task to put together. The second picture is my brand new baby wolf. It came in late October and was never unpacked. Jack would not move so there he is with the loom. I am so excited to get it put together and begin weaving .... soon I hope!

Back to unpacking and setting up!

Tracy

Good News and Happy Chinese New Year!

2010-02-20T10:26:00.008+08:00

Between Chinese New Year and watching the Olympics I have ignored the Blog this week. So first I'll start with - Chinese New Year! I of course have known CNY existed and that it fell early in the year after our New Year, but that was really all I knew. Living in Singapore I have learned more about CNY and experienced it a little. The actual day was Sunday, February 14th. The eve of CNY is significant, it is the day when you visit family. Singapore is 70% Chinese and the country gives 2 consecutive days off to everyone - because CNY fell on a weekend the days off were Monday and Tuesday. The actual holiday is 2 weeks long, some Chinese take the whole time off, even some businesses. CNY is full of traditions all intended to help you have good luck in the new year - what to eat (sweet not savory), what to wear (why red of course), what numbers to use (no 4's that means death, even numbers especially 8 are lucky). Our street is approximately half Chinese and half expats. It's a nice mix - on Monday I heard drums so I followed the noise to the end of the street and there was a dragon dance. Having a dragon dance at your home or business gives you good luck! It was fun to watch. Later in the week Eric and I saw a dragon dance in the mall at Long John Silver's - guess they want good luck, too!

An added bonus for the CNY was a college friend from our SFA days, Rick Gregory came to visit with his wife Hanizah and their 10 year old son Jaren. Rick has been living in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia for the past 20 years. It was great to catch up with Rick, to get to know Hanizah better and to meet Jaren.

Okay my good news - the ship with our container on it is due in Singapore tomorrow!! Keep your fingers, toes, legs, etc.. crossed that it really arrives. The moving company has tentatively set our unpacking day for Wednesday the 24th. Please let it be so!

Happy New Year and may you all have much good luck in the year of the Tiger!

Tracy

year of the Rat :)

PS Since moving the blog to blogspot I've heard via e-mail from people they like they new blog - but no one has made a comment.

Doggie Play Group

2010-02-11T10:51:00.004+08:00

A lot of people have asked me how Jack is doing. When we first left the house he was very nervous, he barked incessantly at our temporary apartment in Katy when we were all gone. I think having Loretta leave then moving really shook his world. He spent a week at Grandma and Grandpa's before he made the trip to Singapore and was happy there. Then he was in Quarantine for 10 days, we were able to visit him during that time. Once he arrived here he was anxious, but he has settled in quite well, quickly. He seems to know this is his home. The first time he was home alone he did bark quite a bit but he has stopped doing that. He is much mellower and much more demanding than he was before. We think he got so much attention from Loretta that he did not need as much from us.

Prior to our move we were told Singapore was not dog friendly. I did a lot of web surfing and found so many groomers and pet shops that I figured that was not the case. We do have to be careful when walking to watch the reaction of locals. Some of it cultural (Muslim Malays consider dogs and pigs dirty and do not want any contact with them) and some are just scared because he is big.

The best news is I found a field that runs behind our neighborhood. There is a paved walk way to the field just behind our street so it's very convenient. I try to take Jack up every morning after school starts. The field is kind of an informal dog park. Almost every morning we meet up with other dogs. This morning we talked our next door neighbor in to bringing her dog, Nana (mastiff) to the field. Nana is so big (160 pounds) and not well socialized so they worry about getting her out. Well, Nana did just fine! Zoe, a mix of standard poodle and golden retriever (she's black) played well with both Jack and Nana. And of course while the dogs play the owners get to visit :)

Tracy

You'd never see this in Katy, Texas!

2010-02-09T14:34:00.004+08:00

Notice anything different? Well, if you have visited this blog before you probably noticed the new look. The other blog was giving me difficulties. I couldn't upload images via the blog so I was having to add html code and that was giving me fits. The images were too big or too small. Anyway after looking at several blogs I noticed the blogs I really liked were using blogspot. A little investigating and 20 minutes later and a new blog was created. Daniel, ever handy web guy moved all of my previous posts over and the images. The only thing missing is the comments. So, please comment again it makes me feel a little less alone over here.... waiting for my stuff. I still sound pitiful, don't I?

So, I'm trying to get over my depression from not getting my stuff. A little grocery retail therapy, yes that means more chocolate. Now I think I've got a stomach ache from too much chocolate :) I've had a few distractions today, we got our auction outdoor furniture delivered today. Because we have not decided which set to keep and we have so little furniture in the house it's inside for now. We had the company we are renting furniture from come and take away two awful armchairs, now that we have our outdoor armchairs. We also got another bed delivered. This weekend is Chinese New Year, everyone has Monday and Tuesday off as a National Holiday - it is a big deal. An old college friend, Rick Gregory who has lived in Malaysia with his Malay wife for 20 years are coming to visit. We have not seen Rick and Hanizah for a very long time and we've never met their 10 year old son, Jaren. We knew we would have plenty of beds when our furniture got here, but you know the story. So now my future loom room has a nice Queen size bed for company! It does look less lonely this way.

The picture I've posted today is something you definitely would not see in Katy, Texas. Singapore is a super safe place, you rarely hear of crime because they are so tough on criminals. I mentioned to some neighbors that we had had not seen a police presence. They laughed and said wait till they patrol the neighborhood. Well, here they are. Walking down our suburban neighborhood with AK-47's! This is from my bedroom window. As I took the picture the officer must have seen me or the flash and his head snapped in my direction. I hid behind the curtains!

Back to my chocolate and a good book,

Tracy

Nooooooo, say it isn't so!!!

2010-02-09T12:27:00.018+08:00

Today was the day our ship was to arrive in Singapore. I have tried not to get too excited and count on our shipment arriving this week, but I couldn't help myself. This morning I told Peter, just 2 more days and we get to sleep on our own mattress, cook with our pots, etc... I sent a note to the moving company here in Singapore and asked for an update on the shipment. The response was horrible - the ship's final destination was Korea not Singapore. Say what?? How do you make a mistake that big?? Seems to me big ships don't just randomly change their course. Anyway, they are now moving the container to another ship and it will be here (if we are lucky) on the 24th - then customs - then delivery. We are all sad - no looms for Tracy, no bike for Peter and no movies for Eric....

Katy left for Thailand this morning. They went straight from the airport in Phuket to a boat to scuba dive. It's a hard life - she'd never be scuba diving on a school trip in Katy, Texas. They will be staying on Phi Phi island (google it, it's gorgeous and the location for several movies). Peter has decided to get certified to scuba dive so that he and Katy can take advantage of the many great diving opportunities in this part of the world.

Today's photo is so that you can help me wallow in self pity. This is one of the two small rooms on the third floor where I will have my studio space. Right now Eric has the whole floor, he is already getting territorial about it. Notice how empty and lonely the room looks....

Hoping to weave in the future, Tracy

Dress Finished!

2010-02-09T12:27:00.017+08:00

As you can see the dress is finished, just in time for the gala. It is not perfect, but it worked and was comfy. Not having all of my tools made sewing more difficult. The fabric was probably the most slippery I've ever worked with, which made sewing with it even more challenging. I sold my 20+ year old Bernina sewing machine prior to leaving Houston and purchased a new spiffy Bernina here in Singapore, the new machine is dual voltage so it will work in the states as well. This was my first project with the new machine, it sews like a dream!

The gala was a lot of fun. 80% of the women were wearing black, I was glad to have my colorful dress. The gala was a PTA fundraiser for the American School. There was a silent auction and a live auction. We picked up two sets of outdoor furniture, we only needed one and intended to get one, but now we have two! We also "won" a trip to a local island for 2, maybe a chance for a romantic weekend. The big auction items were Persian carpets, beautiful rugs that sold for mega bucks. They auctioned a fancy Harley Davidson motorcycle which sold for $36,000 Sing$ ($25,000 USD).

Tracy

Shopping Success

2010-02-09T12:27:00.012+08:00

Before I tell you my success story first I need to give you some background on the Singapore shopping scene. Singapore is a consumer society. Hard to imagine more shopping than the USA but it's true. This little island is jam packed with shoppers and shopping malls. The island is laid out so that you can stay in your community and find just about everything you need there. There are markets on the ground floors of the HDB's (condos for locals). These are open air and always include a Hawker market. a Hawker market is a basically a food court, usually yummy food, too. Within 10 minutes walking distance we have 2 local markets and one train ride away is a 7 story mall and Civic Center. Our mall is geared more towards locals, I can find most of what I need there except clothing/shoes. So, I ventured out to the downtown area to Tanglin Mall which I've heard referred to as the "Expat Mall". I was searching for Birkenstock sandals. I wandered around the mall to see what stores were there, I found a nice little quilt shop, several nice clothing and shoe stores and then (be still my heart) a store full of ethnic textiles. Most of the textiles were from Indonesia and Cambodia. There were some nice cottons, but as I explored more I found the real goodies locked up in glass cabinets. Silk Batiks - beautiful! There was a wide range of colors and wide degree of intricacy in design. The price of the piece increased according to whether the fabric was on commercial silk or handwoven silk and how intricate the design was. Most of these were shawls or sarongs. There was one piece that took my breath away, it was so beautiful and the design was incredibly detailed, it was a sarong as was priced at $1500 Sing (about $1,050 USD). As I was shopping for shoes I did not have my camera with me, darn it. I was searching for fabric for a simple dress to wear to a gala for the high school so I picked up a simple silk sarong. The piece I got is on commercial "silk satin". I have taken a photo of the piece laid out on my dining room floor and a close up of the border. Hopefully this gives you an idea of the detail in a simple piece. I have minimal sewing tools with me and a cutting board is one of the things I'm missing. I had to take a deep breath before cutting, how much harder can it be to cut up a sarong than a piece of handwoven yardage! I should finish the dress tomorrow - just in time for the gala. Tracy

A little about Singapore.

2010-02-09T12:26:00.006+08:00

We were told that Singapore is Asia for Beginners or Asia Light. It is very easy for non-Asians to feel at home here. English is the official language (other official languages are Mandarin, Malay and Tamil). The reason for English is a nod to Singapore's roots. Singapore was colonized by the British (surprise!). Because of it's central location in Southeast Asia and it's proximity to the "Spice Islands" it was a desirable location for the Brits. The Dutch had the Dutch West Indies so the British had to find a spot and make friends with the natives. Currently Singapore is one of the two busiest port in the world, so it's location is still prime. Amazingly this small island nation has just under 5 million people but only 252 square miles!

I've gone on two walking tours, one where we learned about Singapore's roots and little about the current government and their strict laws. The 2nd tour was last week to Chinatown. I had hopes of seeing lots of beautiful fabric, I hear it's there. The tour focused on the upcoming Chinese New Year and the traditions that surround that very important holiday. I learned lots and tried some interesting foods but saw no textiles at all!

So now I understand a little better the importance of Chinese New Year to the locals. Singapore is 75% Chinese, 14% Malay, 9% Indian and 2% other (that's us). The main religions are Buddhism, Muslim, Christian, Taoism and Hinduism. Most locals live in HDB (Housing and Development Board)housing, these are high rise flats and apparently are nice inside. The HDB housing is why so many people can live on such a small island. We live in a "Terraced House", which is really a town house. Shared walls on 2 sides and 3 stories high. The walls are concrete so we do not hear our neighbors at all. Anything "landed" is rare here. Our land is a small patio in the back and a small garden and enough tiled driveway to squeeze in our car. But, Jack has a spot to do his business. There are houses with yards (land) but it's still not much land.

Enough about Singapore for today. The top photo is a picture of the new Sports Hub, a modern building and then the bottom photo is of a row of houses in Chinatown. The two show a little of the contrast of architecture in Singapore.

Tracy

Welcome to Singapore

2010-02-09T12:18:00.004+08:00

Hi everyone, the Lone Star Loom Room's long awaited (by me) blog is up and running. Originally the blog was intended to be a weaving blog. However as you may guess by the title, FAR EAST LOOM ROOM the purpose of the blog has changed a little. We arrived in Singapore January 1st. We are currently waiting for our container with our household goods to arrive (scheduled for February 8th). Moving to Singapore has been the main focus of our lives for the past few months and I think now the blog idea has evolved in to a way to keep family, friends and customers informed of our time here in Singapore. I do intend to post weaving/textile related information as soon as I have something to post. Meanwhile watch for updates on life in Singapore.

Last night Peter, Jack (dog) and I went to the Botanical Gardens. Established in 1859 it is a lovely oasis in the middle of a bustling city. We only had about an hour and half before dark so we did not see the whole garden. Peter came prepared with camera in hand so we were slow going. Interestingly there are many familiar plants in Singapore. The climate in Houston is similar many months of the year. However, I have not seen any roses or other plants that do need some degree of cold for their cycle. This was Jack's first big outing and he was a celebrity. We have to be careful walking Jack, 15% of the population is muslim and they do not touch dogs. I try to keep him close to my side so as not to offend anyone. However, at the Botanical Gardens everyone wanted to pet him and take his picture! I truly think he had more pictures taken than in all 3 years of his life in that hour and half. I heard many kids say "Look a GIANT poodle!". I had to stop and pose him numerous times. Just fyi - the time difference is 14 hours AHEAD of CST time in the states.

Pictures are from the Singapore Botanical Garden; Jack and Tracy in front of a tree with neat roots and lovely orchids. Tracy